


Raiders of the Lost Arc Reactor

by remreader



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, Indiana Jones References, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:55:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29915163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remreader/pseuds/remreader
Summary: Tony is being difficult after an Iron Man test flight gone wrong; luckily Pepper has a few tricks up her sleeve.(or, Tony and Pepper reenact a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark)
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Comments: 7
Kudos: 21
Collections: Ladies of Marvel Bingo 2020, Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV





	Raiders of the Lost Arc Reactor

**Author's Note:**

> This is vaguely set somewhere between Iron Man 2 and Avengers, with Tony and Pepper already in a relationship.
> 
> and some bingo fill details...  
> Title: Raiders of the Lost Arc Reactor  
> Collaborator Name: newnewyorker93  
> TSB Card Number: 4042  
> Squares Filled:  
> • Tony Stark Bingo: R1 - occupational hazard  
> • Ladies of Marvel Bingo: O5 - Pepper Potts  
> Main Pairing: Tony Stark/Pepper Potts  
> Rating: Gen  
> Major Tags: fluff & humor, mild hurt/comfort  
> Summary: Tony is being difficult after an Iron Man test flight gone wrong; luckily Pepper has a few tricks up her sleeve. (or, Tony and Pepper reenact a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark)  
> Word Count: 996
> 
> (and no, I truly could not resist using that title 😂)

Pepper was trying not to lose her patience, she really was, but Tony was _not_ making it easy. He’d gotten back from what was _supposed_ to be a simple routine test flight of his newest armor about an hour ago and was now lying sprawled out on the couch in his lab. Tony being Tony and ‘routine’ never _quite_ meaning ‘uneventful’ he was also bleeding from at least a dozen (thankfully shallow) cuts and dotted all over with rapidly developing bruises that needed ice packs. Since the assorted injuries were, in the grand scheme of Tony, superficial - and Pepper chose not to dwell, for the moment, on the insanity of her life that she actually had a _scale_ for these things now - her sympathy and concern were quickly edging over into irritation that he wouldn’t just _stay still_ long enough to let her patch him up and was instead wriggling and twitching at every dab of an alcohol swab or press of a band-aid. He’d made less of a fuss when she’d sent him into cardiac arrest with her hand halfway down his chest. Pepper knew Tony well enough to know there had to be something more going on here; what she really needed was a way to get his mind off of whatever was actually bothering him.

The whole situation finally came to a head when Pepper tried _very gently_ grasping Tony’s wrist to keep his hand steady while she wrapped two of his fingers together with medical tape.

“That _hurts_.” Tony whined, and he wrenched his arm out of her grip.

“Damn it, Tony!” Pepper threw down the now hopelessly tangled roll of tape, exasperated. “I’m being as careful as I can but I do have to actually touch you for this to work!” She sighed and reached for the first aid kit. “I mean for God’s sake, Tony, where _doesn’t_ it hurt?”

As Pepper dug around for a fresh roll of tape and some more gauze Tony took a moment to conduct a mental inventory. It felt like his whole body was one giant fucking bruise. _Everything_ ached, from his throbbing split lip to the toe he’d stubbed kicking his armor in frustration after JARVIS finished getting him out of it. Even so, he knew he was being difficult, wasn’t being fair to Pepper. Really it was _himself_ he was irritated with. He should never have gotten jostled around this much in his suit; there had obviously been some kind of malfunction in the shock absorber coils. (It was more like a system of carefully calibrated pneumatic counter-bursts than actual coils, but Tony did like his automotive imagery). At any rate, something had clearly gone wrong at the software level which, to Tony's mind, made today's injuries both 100% preventable and 100% his own fault. Every inch of scraped and banged up skin was a visible taunting - and yes, painful - reminder that he’d screwed up something so incredibly basic. If he could just take a look at the programming he could _fix_ \- 

Wait. Something about Pepper’s presumably inadvertent choice of words suddenly clicked into place in the always active pop culture reference portion of Tony's brain and he froze mid-internal monologue, instantly forgetting his nascent spiral of self-recrimination. He really _should_ answer her question, shouldn’t he? He lifted up his left arm and tapped lightly on his elbow with his other hand. “Here.”

Pepper glanced at the proffered elbow skeptically. Then, noting the accompanying eager twinkle now present in Tony’s eyes, she sighed with reluctant fondness and - to Tony’s surprise and delight - pressed a soft kiss to it. While he was preoccupied with marveling at his own elbow in the aftermath she moved quickly and slapped down a gauze and tape bandage over a cut on his shoulder. Piece of cake.

Seemingly unbothered by - or perhaps legitimately unaware of - Pepper’s stealth ministrations, Tony decided to press his luck. “Here too.” He pointed to his forehead, to a spot just above his right eyebrow.

Pepper raised one of hers in response. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, Tony.”

He looked back at her, the very picture of wide Bambi-eyed innocence. “What? You asked, you said ‘where doesn’t it hurt, Tony?’ and it doesn’t hurt on my elbow and it doesn’t hurt on that spot right there.”

Pepper shook her head slightly and rolled her eyes, then leaned in close to whisper in Tony’s ear. “I do watch movies too, you know.” (But she kissed his forehead anyway.)

Tony tipped his head back to look up at Pepper and gave her his best rakish grin. “And you have a thing for ruggedly handsome hero types?” he asked, uttering not even a whimper of protest as she took his hand and made a second attempt at splinting his fingers together.

Pepper snorted. “That’s one way to put it.” She stuck the last bit of tape down and trimmed the end. “I’ll have to work on that.”

Tony curled his unbound fingers around Pepper’s wrist and gave it a light squeeze. “Not too hard though, right?”

“Of course not.” she said soothingly. “Now, do you want another ice pack for your knee? I think there’s a few left in the upstairs fridge.”

Tony tilted his head and looked up at Pepper expectantly. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” he hinted, pointing at his mouth.

“Hmm…are you sure?”

He nodded, beaming.

Pepper shrugged and leaned in to give Tony one more kiss. As soon as her lips had just _barely_ brushed against his, Tony was hit with a sharp shock of pain and snapped his head back against the couch cushions with a wounded yelp. Split lip. _Right._ There was, it turns out, such a thing as _too_ distracted.

“So…two ice packs then?” Pepper asked, making a truly admirable effort not to laugh as Tony glared at her, hand pressed to his sore lip. “It’s ok, honey,” she reassured him, “not everyone can be Indiana Jones.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
